Poetic Short Illuminates Dark History Haunting African American Women

variety.com:

Addie Morfoot ContributorCara Lawson’s Indeed Rising Voices short “Crooked Trees Gon Give Me Wings” is set in Savannah, Georgia, in the 1880s.

The time is 15 years after the Thirteenth Amendment was adopted, abolishing slavery in the United States, but it’s a story that remains uncannily topical more than a century later.The film is seen through the eyes of Bertie Bee Hooks, an optimistic 9-year-old African American girl who converses with spirits in the lush, moss-covered forest surrounding her home.

She shares a modest cabin with her grandmother, an experienced midwife and medicine woman who delivers babies and deals with horrors inflicted on her community by outsiders under the guise of healthcare.“I had seen some articles about midwives, specifically in the African American community, and it just struck me that I knew nothing about their history,” recalls Lawson, who spent months doing a deep dive into information about the involuntary gynecology practiced on Black women during the 19th century and the vital assistance given by Black midwives.   “As I was doing research, I began to realize that the fears Black women had during slavery and post-slavery around going to the doctor and experiencing childbirth still exist today,” Lawson notes. “Women like myself and women that I talked to who are Black and brown are scared to go to the doctor and scared to have children, so I found it to be an interesting and frightening parallel.” While the issues Lawson explores remain present and relevant today, she was keen on making “Crooked Trees Gon Give Me Wings” a period piece.  “Sometimes telling a story through a different time period can help audiences examine it a little bit more closely,” she reasons.